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The sound of rubber mallets hitting hard plastic crosses in the yellow grass echoed across a long stretch of Memorial Drive Saturday morning as volunteers set up the annual Field of Crosses memorial project.

This marked the beginning of what has become an annual tradition in Calgary of white crosses being erected along Sunnyside Bank Park in remembrance of fallen soldiers in southern Alberta. Each cross bears the name of a soldier who lost his life in the line of duty.

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The crosses honor names dating back more than 100 years to the First World War. The scope of the project has exploded since its launch in 2009, when it was more of a cottage operation with around 200 crosses. This year, in its 15th year of operation, 3,600 crosses will bear the names of fallen service members.

“This is my way of thanking you for all of this,” said Diane Dallaire, who lost her son on August 3, 2006 in Afghanistan. She led the group of volunteers who drove the crosses into the ground Saturday morning. One of the first things Dallaire did Saturday was kick his son’s cross into the turf.

“Today was very emotional. I have good days and bad days.

Susan Schalin, executive director of Field of Crosses, said completing the memorial each year is a monumental effort.

“This is a huge effort, and we are so grateful for what we can do. People don’t realize it, but we work on it all year – it doesn’t happen overnight. We start in September cleaning the crosses and now we are installing them,” Schalin said.

There was a slight fear this year that Field of Crosses there wouldn’t be enough volunteers managed to erect all the crosses, prompting the organization to put out a call for volunteers in August. “We had so many people sign up, it was great… we had so many new volunteers join us. »

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This year, a new program will allow classes to travel to the nearby curling club and take part in a learning lesson on Vimy Ridge, then tour the site.

Field of Crosses holds sunrise and sunset ceremonies daily from November 1 to 10, with each day commemorating different aspects of the Canadian Armed Forces:

November 1 — Royal Canadian Air Force Day
November 2 — Youth Day
November 3 — Memorial Cross Families Day
November 4 — Royal Canadian Navy Day
November 5 — Canadian Army Day
November 6 — Sunrise: paying tribute to women of war
November 6 – Sunset: honoring fallen Jews
November 7 — First Responders Day
November 8 — Indigenous Veterans Day
November 9 – Sunrise: tribute to the United States
November 9 — Sunset: animals at war
November 10 — Sunrise: UN peacekeeper
November 10 — Sunset: Night of Lights honoring peace
November 11 — Special Remembrance Day Ceremony

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